From June 19th to July 26th, Family Support Services of West Hawaii held our annual summer program for youth at Queen Liliuokalani Recreation Center. This year’s program was a collaboration between Family Support Services of West Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani Village Association, the State Office of Youth Services and 4H. About forty kids between the ages of 7 and 14 spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from noon until 4:30 pm at the recreation center, participating in various activities.
Recycling was a major theme of our program this summer. A big Mahalo goes out to Carmen Kinsey from Recycle Hawaii, who worked with us to develop curriculum, and visited weekly to present a lesson to the kids. Youth learned how to set up recycling in their homes, about composting, what happens to oil runoff in the rain, how to reduce waste in our landfills, and how to reuse many items through arts and crafts. We also presented the kids with an “Aluminum Can Recycling Challenge.” Kids got one point for every can they brought in during the summer. They then got to exchange their points for tickets to spend at our “Can Carnival.” In six weeks, the kids collected 2689 cans! Our biggest collectors were brother and sister team Kona and Mele Gasaloga. Kona and Mele collected a total of 834 cans together, finding most of them from scouring their neighborhood and picking up other people’s trash. Great work Kona and Mele!
We also had community member Mickey Earnshaw join us weekly for drumming lessons. Mickey introduced youth to three major aspects of drum technique: basic hand patterns, basic rock beats and basic Latin rhythms. Each youth used a pair of drumsticks and a mouse pad to practice their new skills. As the weeks progressed, it became clear that some of our youth might be up and coming percussionists. Many thanks to Mickey for all his time, expertise, and a willingness to share that which he loves. Anyone interested in drumming can visit Mickey’s website at: http://www.turquoise.net/~micky. The website includes fundamentals up to advanced techniques for working drummers.
4H along with Family Support Services and Queen Liliuokalani Village Association have had the opportunity and funding to provide the QLV community with a computer lab. As construction of the lab itself continued through the summer, our kitchen served as a temporary lab on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Summer Rae Moore from 4H was our resident computer expert, and will continue to run the lab through the year. Kids learned computer fundamentals and Microsoft Word, made greeting cards and t-shirts and got to play lots of cool new games. Mahalo to Summer for turning our kitchen into such a good learning environment. It was hard to keep those kids out of the computer lab!
FSSWH staff this summer included Kaiao Archer, who was our sports specialist. Kaiao and the kids played basketball, volleyball, tetherball and Frisbee; but far and away the biggest hit of the summer was the team game “Capture the Flag.” The kids wanted to play almost daily, and Kaiao was kind enough to oblige. Kaiao is off to college this fall, and we would like to wish him well, and thank him for all his hard work. The kids really had a great time with him.
Our staff also included six Teen Mentors, who served as camp counselors, with their own group of youth. Teens worked anywhere from 4 to 6 hours a day, three days a week, supervising the children as well, as assisting with activities and the running of the facility. Teen Mentors received a week of leadership training prior to the program’s start. Thank you to Natalye Young for providing us with her workshop on Co-counseling. Teens will receive .5 community service credits from Kealakehe High School for their work with us this summer. Mahalo to the teens for their good work and for sharing their summer with other youth.
Our summer program also included a free lunch program, a trip to the Kona Pool, gardening, reading, arts and crafts and water play. Our culminating event was the “Can Carnival,” held on our last day, July 26th. We had a water balloon toss that turned into a full scale water balloon war, an egg relay, karaoke contest, the ultimate Capture the Flag game, face painting, silly pictures, a pińata and a prize table. Kids used their tickets from the Aluminum Can Recycling Challenge in exchange for prizes. The day was a success and good fun for all.
Thank you again to everyone who made the summer program possible. The kids had plenty of fun in the sun, and that is what summer vacation is all about!
Hot Wahines, Hot Fishing, Hot Action!
310 Women in 77 boats heated up the waters off of the Kona Coast with hot fishing action for the sixth annual Huggo’s Na Pua O Ke Kai Wahine Fishing Tournament, the largest women’s tournament held in the Pacific, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The winning fish was caught by team “Start Me Up Action”, with as 300 pound Pacific Blue Marlin, caught by angler Malia Vandervoort, on the fishing boat Action, with Captain Doug Armfield. The first place fish was worth $5,000.00 plus $3150.00 in side pools totaling $8150.00.
All totaled there were 21 marlin, 7 were weighed, 2 were boated but not weighed and 12 marlin tagged and released. One Ahi was boated going to angler Leona Kahoonei fishing with Captain Glen Yamasita on the Kaylani weighing in at 116 pounds. Pauahi Ballesferos and Nancy Ortiz on the Ho’ okele with Captain Guy Terwilliger caught the only Mahi Mahi in the tournament weighing 20-22 pounds respectively.
The Awards Ceremony was held Sunday evening July 29th at Huggo’s on the Rocks at 6:00 p.m. Special awards were given to the best decorated boats of the event.
A substantial percentage of the income generated by the tournament is donated to Family Support Services of West Hawaii. Mahalo’s go out to Huggo’s Restaurant, Pacifico, Paradise Beverages, and Banana Boat, who helped underwrite the event with their generous contributions. Mahalo to all those who volunteered to make this a successful event!
The seventh annual Huggo’s Na Pua O Ke Kai Wahine Tournament dates arealready set for next year, July 27th. Only 75 teams are alowed to enter, and entry forms for next year will be available on September 1, 2001.
My name is Tasha Kanuha and I’m pregnant and writing this article to help other teenage girls who may be going through the same thing as me or who think they want to have a baby at a young age. Having a baby is something you want to be prepared for and I sure wasn’t It was an accident that could have and should have been prevented. I knew I was Pregnant when I would get up every morning and feel sick. This went on for four months and kept me from going to school and work. When I finally got up the courage to do a home pregnancy test and it came up positive, I felt really confused and scared. I didn’t tell anyone I was Pregnant and this was such a burden and put so much stress on me. A few weeks later I told my mom I was pregnant. She was really disappointed that I would hide something like this from her. She didn’t explode and yell at me like I thought she would. She just calmly handled the situation and we both cried and talked. Eventually, the rest of my family found out and they have been very supportive. Being pregnant isn’t easy at all. It is really scary, confusing, tough and very stressful.
During the past eight months, I have been through many changes not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, also. Mentally I have to prepare myself to be a mother and start acting like one. Emotionally, I have to go through many different moods and let me tell you, it isn’t much fun living with me.
It’s like an emotional roller coaster that goes up and is happy, then goes back down and is miserable. Of all the changes, however, the toughest one for me is preparing to take on the responsibilities of becoming a mother. Being pregnant has affected my life in so many ways. It has affected my education, my personal life, and my social life. I can’t just go out and do the things I used to do, and with a baby to take care of, I know that this will take up all of my time. My life will never be the same but I know I can manage. It’s another bump on my road of life. A pretty big bump!
The weather was perfect for our Early Head Start Pool Day on July 26. Our families came from as far away as Ka’u and Waikoloa. The toddlers took to the water like little fish, and only came out for drinks and snacks. Thank you for the parents and all the participants for making a fun time for the keikis.
Arline, the health and safety coordinator with the Early Head Start program shared some water safety information.
The one safety tip that cannot be stressed often enough is to never allow your child near the water unattended. Near the water" refers to the ocean, a swimming pool, a wading pool, a bath tub, the toilet or a bucket of water that a toddler might fall into head first.
As soon as you begin to familiarize your baby with the water, start to repeat simple water safety rules - "don't go near water without an adult, always swim with a buddy, don't run on the pool deck, and always jump into the water feet first." You'll be surprised how well your child absorbs these often repeated, simple rules.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until your child is 3 years of age before enrolling him/her in swim classes. Also, remember that those water floats designed for toddlers are sold in toy stores because they are toys – they are not life-saving devices.
If possible, take an infant/child CPR course. And remember, if you have a plastic wading pool, drain it and store it in an upright position after each use. If you have a permanent pool, make sure it is enclosed with a fence at least four feet high, and lock the gate to the pool after each use.
After the training, we all went to Toddler Park for a picnic. A good time was had by all.
Mahalo! Mahalo! I think you know that FSSWH greatly appreciates your ongoing support, but I want to express an even bigger thanks since you helped us get through a very critical stage. Two ways: First, your unrestricted donations allowed us to direct funds where needed and the truth is, that there were several “gaps” this past year that our contracts just could not handle. You allowed us to fill those gaps with needed services. Secondly, our state contracts for services always get “held up” as they process one fiscal year and start up another. This creates a huge cash flow problem for us. Your contributions allowed us to keep everything afloat when combined with the support of community financial institutions and supportive creditors. All is getting back on track but without you and the community support, we would be in a great big hole right now. So, Mahalo, Mahalo!
I also want to take a minute to share that FSSWH is right in the middle and at times leading the way in several community planning efforts throughout West Hawaii. These are around preventative health issues, especially as it relates to tobacco, drugs and alcohol prevention with our young people. I’m excited about the hard work being done around these issues in several locations; N. Kohala, Waikoloa, Kona, and Kau. This has the promise of strengthening our communities, increasing resources in the community and overall making West Hawaii a healthier place for our families. What’s more is that this falls clearly in to our mission of ….Supporting families and communities in providing love and care for our children. I’ll just add that there is hope when you see communities rallying to combat the huge drug problems we have in West Hawaii and insisting that our children have a healthy environment to live, go to school and mature into adulthood. You are a part of the all of the above. You are helping us to make a difference. You are part of the solution. Thanks for being there for Family Support Services of West Hawaii!
Mahalo!